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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Thirunelveli Halwa

Thirunelveli also called Nellai is an ancient city in South of Tamil nadu, situated on the banks of the river Tamirabarani.I guess everyone in South India will be familiar with the famous Thirunelveli Halwa/Wheat halwa sold at Iruttu kadai (meaning dark shop) in Thirunelveli

This is one of my favourite sweet and I was lucky enough to have friends in Thirunelveli who used to get for me from Iruttu kadai often during my college days.

I bookmarked this recipe from this video.Here they have explained how they make this halwa at Thirunelveli.I just followed this recipe with only one change.I reduced the amount of sugar alone.It took almost 3 hours for me to make this halwa.I would say this almost tastes close to Thirunelveli Halwa so it is worth the effort.Also I was amazed with the yield.1 cup of wheat can yield more than 1/2 kg of halwa

Ingredients

Wheat : 2 cups (approx 450gms)

Sugar: 7 cups

Water: 12 cups

Cardomom powder: 1/2 tsp

Ghee: 3 cups

Procedure:

Step1:

Soak the wheat is sufficient amount of water for 8 hrs

Step2:

Grind the wheat with some water and extract the wheat milk

To get the milk, grind the wheat in mixie/blender for 5 minutes and filter out the milk.

Grind the wheat with fresh water again and filter.Repeat this atleast 3 times

Step3:

Allow the milk to ferment overnight

Step4:

In the morning , you will find that the thick milk has settled at the bottom and the clear liquid on top.Discard the clear liquid. I got approximately 3.5 cups of milkNote: If you are able to extract more milk, adjust the quantity of other ingredients accordingly

Fermented milk

After clearing the liquid on top

Step5:

In a wide non stick pan, pour this milk and add 12 cups of water and mix well

Mixed with water

Step6:

Cook in a medium flame and keep stirring once 3 -5 minutes.After 1 hour, the mixture starts to thicken

Step7:

At this point add sugar and keep on stirring

Step8:

Once it reaches semi solid stage, add ghee little by little and keep on stirring.After another 1 hour or so, the ghee will start oozing out.The halwa will look transparent as well.When you take the mixture in the laddle, it should slide and not stick to the laddleThe ghee will really start oozing out at the last stage. I recollected more than 1/4 cup of ghee once I was done with the Halwa

Step9:

Add cardomom powder and fried cashews and switch off the flame

About to be done.Still sticky

Almost done.The halwa has to slide from the spoon.Should not stick

Adding color to Halwa

Heat 3 tsp of ghee

Add 2 tsp of sugar and keep stirring until the sugar starts melting and starts caramelizing

At one point (within a minute or two), the ghee starts changing color to brown

Pour this to the Halwa mixture and you will get the required color naturally

Heat ghee and sugar

Add it to the halwa

This will become more darker once the halwa is done

Tips:

If you want to try this halwa for the first time, cut the recipe by half.Use only 1 cup of wheat.The yield is really huge.So 1 cup will be more than enough for a family

Use a good quality non stick pan so that it will be easy to stir and also to clean

I got only 3.5 cups of milk from 2 cups of wheat.If you extracted properly with good squeezing and grinding more than 3 times, you may get even more.In that case increase the other ingredients accordingly

Do not add any artificial colors.You may not get the color naturally when you are making with less quantity.However use the above tip to bring the color

I have made this halwa several times.It stays fresh for almost 10 days.Just heat it in microwave before serving

Aahh..this is a mouthwatering halwa...my husband is from T'veli and I make sure to buy this whenever we visit there...but its such a long process that never thought of making it at home...your step by step instructions and pictures are very helpful.

I am from South but never heard the name. Seems like a popular one in Tamilnadu. :)I posted a wheat halwa recipe (which is our version ofcourse) with slight variations last month.And so I know how delicious this must have been. Worth all that time and efforts.

Had this halwa ages ago when I visited temples down south with my grandparents.. Always thought it was exotic :-) I am sure the most anyone would need with this is sheer muscle power to keep stirring.. If I am not wrong, isnt a little maida added to this??

Never had anything like this before..looks great and yummy..love the step by step pics..hats off to ur patience and effort. Loved the first photo. I just wish I could grab it out of the photo and savour it. Delish!

You have the art and patience for cooking my dear lady!! :P hats off to ur effort to make this wonderful halwa, I love it and get it bought whenever there is a visitor from T'velli :PWould love to visit u often :P

@GomathiSundaram, As per the video link, it says sugar.The dark color is obtained by the combination of sugar and ghee and long cooking time.I have given a tip in this post to obtain this color even if we prepare in small quantities.

I know in Tanjore there is a kind of wheat halwa prepared using jaggery. I am not completely sure on the recipe though.

Hi, Thansks for giving a wonderful recipe. I tried making this. Since you had mentioned "it should slide from the spoon and not stick to it", I was stirring for a long time and now the halwa became hard!! It sticks to the mouth. Can you tell me if there is anyway to rectify it?Thanks in advance.

the step by step receipe is so good,it is absolutly fascinating, i am going to try tommorrow,fingers crossed.

i have seen other receipe the make sugar syrup first then add wheat milk ,u have made it reverse, can u clarify why it is done like that.just wanted to know wht difference it makes.u r reply at the earliest is highly appreciated .

hi i tried it , it was so yum and lovely , so happy and elated that i was able to make it and we enjoyed for this diwali .Thanks for the step wise photo and lots of extra tips which helped me to understand and make it .thanks again.Wishing you too a very happy diwali

Hi Suriya. I have never tried with dalda. i checked with my mom. She said she has tried once replacing half of the ghee with refined sunflower oil. So for the above measurement you can use 1.5 cups of ghee and 1 cup of oil.

Hii great recipe. How to get like neyyi Uranji varum pakkuvam like on top of thirunelveli halwa ? I already tried this recipe the outcome was excellent. The ghee was on top but not sugared. Planning to make again, pls reply. - Cappu.

hi, i want to make dry fruit halwa,in what stage we need to mix the dry fruits(figs,prunes,dates,raisins), and do we need to roast the nuts(cashew,badam,walnuts,sunflower seeds, pistatio etc?,luv your recipe wish to do for diwali!,

Hi, I got the wheat milk (Step 2) and allowing it to ferment. In your step you mentioned that for 2 cups of whole wheat you got 3.5 cups of precipitated milk. Does you measurements of Sugar and Ghee depends on this 2 or 3.5 cups? Please confirm.

Thanks for your reply. I think that I almost got it right. The taste was good without color. But I did not do the additional coloring step. I think the right thickening is need before adding the sugar Step 6. Thanks for your recipe. It came out good.

Great recipe. My mom is a big fan of Tirunelveli Halwa and I wanted to surprise her with a homemade version. Found your recipe and I tried making this today. The result was yummy and completely floored my mom. I tried with 4 tbsp of wheat and it took me an hour to make it.